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Rockets being fired from the Gaza Strip. (Archives)
Last update - 22:40 13/03/2008
At least 30 Qassam rockets fired into Israel from Gaza since Wed.
By Avi Issacharoff, Yuval Azoulay, Mijal Grinberg, Jonathan Lis, and Reuters
Tags: Hamas, Islamic Jihad 

At least 30 Qassam rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Sderot and other Gaza-area communities since Wednesday night, shattering a recent
lull in Gaza fighting and highlighting the fragility of efforts to move Israel and Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers toward a truce.

Ten mortar shells were also fired at Israel's south.
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Two rockets struck urban areas and the rest hit open areas. No one was hurt but some property damage was reported.

Gaza militant groups said late Thursday that they had fired 64 rockets and mortar shells at Israel during the course of the day Thursday.

The Prime Minister's Office said on Thursday that Israel holds Hamas accountable for every rocket fired by the different militant groups in the Gaza Strip.

"When another group publicly takes responsibility, as happened earlier today, such a group could not be shooting rockets without the acquiescence and collaboration of Hamas. We will not allow Hamas to sub-contract out terrorism," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Olmert.

The militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsiblity for some of Thursday's rockets, saying the attacks were in response to the Israel Defense Forces raid in Bethlehem, during which troops killed three members of the group and a man belonging to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

Two Qassams struck a warehouse and soccer stadium in the rocket-weary town of Sderot, but no one was injured. Israeli aircraft struck a loaded rocket launcher early Thursday, but no Palestinian injuries were reported.

Five more rockets hit the western Negev on Thursday afternoon. No injuries were reported in either incident.

On Thursday, former Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said Hamas
had to be toppled before rocket fire would stop.

"Israel will not exist side by side with this Iranian entity 3 kilometers from Sderot and 10 kilometers from Ashkelon," Sneh told Army
Radio. "There can be no solution without a diplomatic agreement, and there can be no solution without the military wiping out Hamas."

Defense officials expect truce talks to collapse

The defense establishment expected that the indirect understanding with Hamas over a cease-fire in Gaza would likely collapse Thursday, as Islamic Jihad warned that it was preparing to fire Qassam rockets at the Negev in response to the killings of four of its members on the West Bank on Wednesday.

Five armed and wanted Palestinians were killed in total by Israel Police anti-terrorist forces in two separate incidents.

In the first incident Wednesday morning in Kfar Tzaida east of Tul Karm, Salah Karkur, 27, of Islamic Jihad was killed during an attempt to arrest him by a combined operation of the IDF, Border Police and Shin Bet.

The second incident, in which four men were killed, occured in Bethlehem. Muhamad Shahade, one of the most wanted terrorist suspects of Islamic Jihad, was killed when the Israel Police special anti-terrorist unit attempted to arrest him. He was killed along with Imad Kamil and Isa Marzuka.

The fourth gunman killed was Ahmad Al-Balbul, a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, who had been held in detention by the Palestinian Authority for a long period.

The four had been wanted by Israel for eight years for conducting numerous terror attacks, including a series that killed six Israelis at the beginning of the second Intifada.

The gunmen were considered the leadership of Islamic Jihad in the Bethlehem area, and were in direct contact with the Jihad leadership in Syria. They were known to have dispatched car bombs to Jerusalem, and the Shin Bet claims the four were at the head of a network planning more terror attacks. The Shin Bet had not tied them to any specific attack planned in the near future.

Islamic Jihad has previously responded to the death of its members in the West Bank by firing Qassams from Gaza. Israeli sources found it difficult to predict how hard Hamas would try to restrain Jihad on Thursday.

PA: Hamas only committed to one week of calm

According to Palestinian sources, the commitments made by Hamas to the Egyptian negotiators was only for a week of quiet, which is scheduled to end Friday.

The Shin Bet has already significantly increased the preparedness of the security around Israeli representatives and offices overseas, as well as that of Israeli airlines, mostly as a result of the killing of senior Hezbollah official Imad Mugniyah in Damascus on February 12.

The Shin Bet is afraid of a revenge attack by Hezbollah or Iran. The 40-day mourning period for Mugniyah will end in another 10 days, and Hezbollah has publicly threatened a number of times to perpetrate major attacks on Israeli targets, in response to the killing they credit to Israel. The Northern Command has also increased its readiness in response to Hezbollah threats.

In Wednesday's action, the security forces entered Bethlehem under cover to arrest Shahade. There they found the four in a car, armed with an M-16, pistols and grenades. They were killed after they left a restaurant near the government center in Bethlehem.

Karkur was hiding in a house when the security forces surrounded it. They called on him to leave the house, and after he did not respond to demands to turn himself in, the army used heavy engineering equipment to force him out.

Shots were then fired at the soldiers from inside the house, and explosive devices were also hurled at the forces. Karkur was killed during the exchange of fire. No soldiers were injured.

The IDF said Wednesday that Karkur was found with an Kalashnikov assault rifle, ammunition and explosive devices.

According to village resident Abdel Karim Hammad, whose family lives in the house where Karkur was hiding, Karkur refused to come out, a gunfight erupted, and Karkur was shot and killed. The Israelis then demolished half of the house and arrested Hammad's father for harboring a wanted gunman, he said.

A general strike was declared for Bethlehem on Wednesday after the killings, including schools. In addition, disturbances are expected today in Bethlehem, particularly near areas where the IDF is present.

The Palestinian Authority published a statement denouncing the the Israeli operations, and said it holds Israel responsible for a possible deterioration in the situation.

Ismail Haniyeh, prime minster of the Hamas-led government in Gaza, said Wednesday that any cease-fire with Israel in the Gaza area would be conditional on the cessation of arrests and killings in the West Bank. In a speech in front students at the Islamic University in Gaza, Haniyeh said that Hamas demands that the cease-fire also include the West Bank and not only the Gaza Strip  something Israel rejects completely.

"We will not abandon you, our people in the West Bank," he said. "The violence directed against you is directed against us too."

The Hamas leadership in Damascus also presented the same demands on Wednesday, demanding Israel "end all forms of aggression" in both Gaza and the West Bank.

In so doing, Hamas is toughening its stance about the cease-fire and is now presenting demands that Israel has completely rejected: to end arrests in the West Bank. Hamas has previously claimed the right to retaliate against Israel for its operations in the West Bank.

Islamic Jihad leader Nafez Azzam in Gaza denounced the Israeli raid. "This new crime reflects the true face of the occupation," he said. "Killing still continues while they are talking
about the possibility of bringing calm, but if they think that calm means Palestinian surrender, they are mistaken."

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Israel's raids in the West Bank showed "it was not interested in calm." Hamas, he said, would hold Israel responsible for the consequences.

Related articles:
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  • Haaretz.com TV: Abbas, Olmert contradict each other on Hamas-Israel cease fire
  • Egypt FM: Cairo can forge truce between Israel and Gaza militants
  • Abbas: I'm ready to negotiate a truce between Israel, Hamas
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      1.   Good job... 02:58  |  Northern 13/03/08
      2.   Five today fifty tomorrow 03:02  |  Yessir Ibn Badkarma 13/03/08
      3.   Surprise Surprise 03:10  |  leo 13/03/08
      4.   ANOTHER INVITATION TO BOMB GAZA! 03:14  |  Nechama 13/03/08
      5.   Very good ridance to bad rubbish 03:28  |  Adrian de Klerk 13/03/08
      6.   I guess someone in the government ...... 03:29  |  Avrum 13/03/08
      7.   The true face of the Occupation,rather mild words for the longest 03:33  |  lakshmi 13/03/08
      8.   Israel to blame, nothing new 03:35  |  nick 13/03/08
      9.   Killing people tends to end lulls in fighting 03:40  |  Pablo B 13/03/08
      10.   Israel should retake its historic homeland at the Strip 03:40  |  Brod 13/03/08
      11.   Play with fire and get burned 03:49  |  Pather Jet 13/03/08
      12.   Hamas 04:07  |  Paul 13/03/08
      13.   Game over 04:32  |  Mark Lincoln 13/03/08
      14.   Non-qassam scare 04:33  |  jjvanka 13/03/08
      15.   BRAVO IDF! BRAVO IDF! GO GET`EM ALL, NO MATTER WHAT! 05:00  |  Mr. Ami Goldman 13/03/08
      16.   Incorrect headline, Haaretz 05:04  |  Ben Alofs 13/03/08
      17.   Killings of Militants in the West Bank 05:10  |  Douglas Fireman 13/03/08
      18.   Pablo Murdering 8 Israeli students tends to end lulls in fighting 05:50  |  Dan 13/03/08
      19.   Mark Lincoln, Murder of 8 students ended before your before 05:52  |  Dan 13/03/08
      20.   Ben Alofs 06:20  |  vik 13/03/08
      21.   Haaretz where is your objectivity? 06:52  |  Myles 13/03/08
      22.   Israel Helps Palestinians 07:00  |  Michael 13/03/08
      23.   Ismail Haniyeh: "We will not abandon you"??? 07:02  |  Brad 13/03/08
      24.   racism per the usual 07:03  |  ricki bobbi 13/03/08
      25.   broken peace treaty brings payback for jews 07:05  |  consequence 13/03/08
      26.   Good show, IDF to kill these murderers! 07:05  |  Voice of Reason 13/03/08
      27.   DON`T BOTHER TO TALK NO MORE 07:14  |  indrajaya 13/03/08
      28.   Correction: Lull in fighting ends after Israel Killed 5 Palestini 08:05  |  Jim 13/03/08
      29.   Peace with the Arabs. 08:17  |  Jean Van Daem 13/03/08
      30.   Return to sender ..... 08:34  |  Jacob 13/03/08
      31.   The DANGEROUS IGNORANCE OF ARABS 08:43  |  Dagma 13/03/08
      32.   @2 Bad Karma! 08:43  |  Jacob 13/03/08
      33.   To Douglas Fireman # 17 - Dont worry about saying Kaddish 08:52  |  Dolly 13/03/08
      34.   We are playing for time 08:54  |  sh 13/03/08
      35.   15 Jihad rockets..... 09:30  |  Esther 13/03/08
      36.   well said # 16 09:32  |  Abed 13/03/08
      37.   Don`t give us your excuses Pablo 09:53  |  Michael 13/03/08
      38.   I have no sympathy at all for Islamic Jihad, but I`m afraid..... 10:09  |  Swiss (Dino) 13/03/08
      39.   ISRAEL CAN`T KEEP ITS WORD AND VIOLATED TRUCE FIRST 10:18  |  TripleJump 13/03/08
      40.   IT WAS ISRAEL THAT VIOLATED TRUCE FIRST 10:19  |  Eric 13/03/08
      41.   Misleading headline. ISRAEL was FIRST TO VIOLATED truce 10:21  |  James 13/03/08
      42.   MORE ROCKETS TO COME (2ND TRY, EDITED) 10:25  |  indrajaya 13/03/08
      43.   Wow 10:41  |  Wise Saba 13/03/08
      44.   #29 dagma re; woody allen 10:57  |  danny 13/03/08
      45.   Northern 11:01  |  x-ray 13/03/08
      46.   why jews lies, always ? 11:17  |  atilla karagözoğlu 13/03/08
      47.   I found israel and jews hearts guilty 11:19  |  atilla karagözoğlu 13/03/08
      48.   look at skie, how deep and big 11:32  |  atilla karagözoğlu 13/03/08
      49.   There was never a truce in W.B. bravo IDF 11:33  |  maurice 13/03/08
      50.   IDF spokesmodel predicts failure of ceasefire 11:40  |  Johnboy 13/03/08
      51.   Pablo nonsense arguments 11:42  |  Aby 13/03/08
      52.   cease fire with Hamas 11:49  |  Dik 13/03/08
      53.   ISRAEL SCREWS IT UP EVERYTIME 12:12  |  Simon 13/03/08
      54.   HAMAS ACCOUNTABLE? 12:18  |  indrajaya 13/03/08
      55.   "..If you don`t sheet on your pants I don`t know nothing.." 12:23  |  ... 13/03/08
      56.   Of Course there is no LULL. ..... 12:37  |  Dagma 13/03/08
      57.   Question For Abed And Other Arab Posters 12:53  |  Dan 13/03/08
      58.   To ATILLA [whatever]... A vulgar and disgusting message 13:00  |  Dagma 13/03/08
      59.   Well Done IDF/Israel !!! So proud !!! Pls read ... 13:12  |  Yossi 13/03/08
      60.   #39/40 2 buffoons dont know what a truce is ! 13:12  |  v ictor hardman 13/03/08
      61.   I can only laugh 13:18  |  Tosefta 13/03/08
      62.   IS "PROPORTIONAL "response of 8000 missiles on Gaza OK? 13:20  |  PETER SM 13/03/08
      63.   yeah, yeah, yeah, heard it all before 13:22  |  Harvey (Chaim) 13/03/08
      64.   rockets and hudnas/ceasefires 13:27  |  Gilbert 13/03/08
      65.   Barak, the Don Quijote of Israel 13:47  |  Jonathan S 13/03/08
      66.   Stop talking and kill Hamas down to last man already 13:48  |  Mark Hamil 13/03/08
      67.   Arabs who murder Jews will be PURSUED..... 13:51